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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24807103">Connection</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/FridayMorning/pseuds/FridayMorning'>FridayMorning</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Give Them a Reason [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Emotional Constipation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Minor Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Minor Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra), Post-Canon, Self Confidence Issues, Social Anxiety, Trust Issues</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:29:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,777</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24807103</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/FridayMorning/pseuds/FridayMorning</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Oh- hi, hello, uh-” They turned to see Scorpia standing a few feet away. She waved awkwardly. “Sorry to interrupt, but uh, you both kind of went missing for a while and people started to get worried.”</p><p>Catra suddenly felt cold all over. An idea flashed in Adora’s eyes. “Don’t worry about it, Scorpia. I was just about to get back to Bow and Glimmer. You know the way back to Catra’s room, can you help her get there?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow &amp; Catra (She-Ra), Catra &amp; Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra &amp; Perfuma (She-Ra), Catra &amp; Scorpia (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Give Them a Reason [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1784470</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>269</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Connection</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Catra supposed she should have anticipated the crowd. <em> Princesses travel, fight, and feed together in herds</em>, Catra noted to herself as Perfuma led her to the room where everyone was eating. She sounded like a scientist recording the patterns found in nature. The thought was a slippery slope that brought her mind back to-</p><p>“Entrapta! Scorpia!” Perfuma waved. There were several small circular tables where everyone sat in small groups. Perfuma was currently leading Catra toward one which contained the people she wanted to talk to the least of all. Entrapta’s eyes were glued to the tablet she held, but Scorpia caught sight of her and waved.</p><p>She pulled out of Perfuma’s grip. “I’m gonna go sit with Adora.” She stabbed a finger in the direction of Adora, Bow, and Glimmer’s table.</p><p>Perfuma blinked, but quickly replaced any surprise with a signature understanding smile. “Of course. I’ll see you later?”</p><p>“Uh, sure.” Catra forced a smile and hurried over to the only people she felt remotely comfortable with. She had forgotten how befriending one princess meant befriending them all, and she was not ready for that quite yet.</p><p>“Catra, you’re here!” Adora beamed as her girlfriend sat beside her.</p><p>For the past few weeks Catra had been eating all her meals in her room, usually joined by Melog and sometimes Adora. Catra felt a twinge of guilt for making Adora lose time with her other friends simply because she was too intimidated by, well, the current circumstances she was being subjected to. The noise, the people, the eyes- <em>They’re looking at me</em>, Catra thought.</p><p>“It’s nice to see you again.” Bow smiled.</p><p>“We’re glad you’ve stopped trying to be a hermit,” Glimmer added.</p><p>Adora smothered a laugh. Catra’s tail twitched and she reminded herself that Glimmer was not trying to bait her. “What’s for lunch?”</p><p>Bow proceeded to explain a dish that probably would have sounded simple if Catra had been familiar with any of the ingredients. <em>What would they think if I showed them the gray and brown bars from the Fright Zone?</em> She knew what Adora would say. <i>“The gray ones actually aren’t that bad-”</i></p><p>An employee of the castle set a plate down in front of her, snapping her from her thoughts and almost making her jump from her seat.</p><p>Glimmer snorted. “Are you okay?”</p><p>Catra bristled. “Yeah, fine.” She picked up her fork and started to eat. The food was excellent like always, but Catra could not taste it. Did anyone else see? <em>It’s so quiet now- are they eating or whispering?</em> She stole a glance over her shoulder toward Perfuma’s table.</p><p>The three of them ate contentedly. Scorpia smiled at Perfuma and mouthed words Catra could not read from so far away. Perfuma blushed lightly and hid a laugh behind her hand. Catra’s mind raced. Under the table, Adora took Catra’s free hand in hers. Catra turned and Adora was acting as if everything was normal. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on her food again.</p><p>“Do you guys want to go for a walk around the woods after this?” Bow asked. “I want to show off a new arrow prototype I’ve been working on, and I need a lot of space for it.”</p><p>Glimmer squeezed his arm. “That sounds great! My next meeting isn’t for two hours.”</p><p>Bow smiled, then looked at Catra as if he had forgotten her existence in the short time she had not been in his direct line of sight. “You can come too, if you want,” he offered.</p><p>Her tail lashed. <em>They all pity me.</em> The thoughts came in a flurry, like a flock of birds suddenly making a joint effort to all land in the same spot in a whirlwind of wings and feathers. <em>Pathetic. Poor Catra, once a soldier- can’t even leave her room on her own now- We have to be nice to her because of Adora- It’s a little funny, really- </em></p><p>Catra stood, scraping her chair back in her hurry. “I’m fine. Have- have <em>fun</em>.” She turned and bolted for the exit.</p><p>Adora’s chair scraped the floor a moment too late. “Catra, wait-”</p><p>She rounded the corner and lost herself in the maze of corridors.</p><p>. . . .</p><p>‘Lost’ turned out to be a particularly apt word. Catra had no idea how to find her way back to her room. She could not even retrace her steps to the greenhouse.</p><p>“Catra?”</p><p>She could have cried from frustration. She loved Adora, she really did, but why could her girlfriend never let her go off alone to sulk and lick her wounds? Tired of running, Catra turned.</p><p>She-Ra rounded the corner. The sight of her did nothing to calm Catra’s nerves, but she tried to play it off. She crossed her arms over her chest. “What happened, did someone forget I changed teams and report a stray Horde soldier loose in the castle?”</p><p>Adora stared at her blankly for a few seconds, then looked down at her outfit. “Oh- woops.” She transformed back with a light blush.</p><p>“What, you expect me to believe that wasn’t on purpose? There’s no other way you could have caught up with me without your magic.”</p><p>“Well-” Adora’s blush deepened. “Maybe. But I expected to change back just before you saw me.”</p><p>“Uh-huh.”</p><p>Adora straightened, which was always a warning sign that the focus was about to be shifted back onto Catra. She tensed in preparation a second before Adora asked, “What happened back there?”</p><p>“Nothing.” She regretted it as soon as she said it, because it was quite possibly the most obvious and pathetic lie she had ever told in her life.</p><p>Adora crossed her arms over her chest. “Nothing?”</p><p>“I- everyone was looking at me!”</p><p>She quirked an eyebrow. “They were?”</p><p>“Yes- well- of course, you didn’t notice, you’re oblivious! They were looking and wondering why I was there.” Catra turned away and hunched her shoulders. She stared at the floor. “You might not want to believe it, but your little friends are only nice to me because of you. I don’t belong here.”</p><p>“That…” Adora’s voice was strained with heartbreak. “That’s not true. I can’t imagine any of them saying cruel things behind your back.”</p><p>“Because you can’t imagine cruel things about me, period! You’re so stubborn in your optimism, you idealize me-”</p><p>“Catra.”</p><p>She fell instantly silent.</p><p>“Out of everyone, I have the most firsthand experience to justify calling you cruel, deceitful, manipulative, and selfish.” Adora set a hand on her shoulder and turned her around, firm but careful. “But I don’t. Because, <em>without</em> idealizing you, I can see your good qualities outweigh the bad a hundred times over. You are loyal, determined, fiercely protective of the people you care about, and <em>good.</em> You care about things, even if you don’t like to admit it.”</p><p>Catra refused to look up. “How do you know that?”</p><p>“Because you care about me.”</p><p>“Oh- hi, hello, uh-” They turned to see Scorpia standing a few feet away. She waved awkwardly. “Sorry to interrupt, but uh, you both kind of went missing for a while and people started to get worried.”</p><p>Catra suddenly felt cold all over. An idea flashed in Adora’s eyes. “Don’t worry about it, Scorpia. I was just about to get back to Bow and Glimmer. You know the way back to Catra’s room, can you help her get there?”</p><p>Catra whipped her head around and gave Adora the <em>‘are-you-kidding-me?’</em> look that she was getting accustomed to using in most of her interactions with her girlfriend or her girlfriend’s friends. Adora ignored her.</p><p>Scorpia straightened. “Huh? Sure, yeah, I’d be happy to.”</p><p>Catra swiped for Adora’s arm, but she missed and Adora rounded the corner with a wave and a call of thanks.</p><p>“So, Wi- Catra, right this way…” Scorpia smiled, but she faltered when she almost used the old nickname. Catra remembered earlier when Scorpia had made Perfuma laugh.</p><p>They walked together in awkward silence, occasionally punctuated with an equally awkward conversation starter from Scorpia, each of which Catra shot down as easily as she could.</p><p>“So, Perfuma said you helped her out earlier in the greenhouse. That sounds fun. I would have joined you, but you know how it is.” She held up her pincers as if Catra might have forgotten. “Delicate things and I don’t mix too well. It’s a miracle Perfuma-”</p><p>Catra stopped cold and faced her. “What did you say to her about me?”</p><p>“What?” Scorpia’s train of thought was thrown off track. Her forehead wrinkled.</p><p>“At lunch, I saw you. You, you said something, and she laughed, and…” The accusation trailed off as Catra realized how stupid and paranoid she sounded. <em>Idiot.</em></p><p>Scorpia blushed like one of the roses from the indoor garden. “That wasn’t about you at all. I was, you see, I-” She looked around quickly, checking that this portion of the hallway was truly empty. “I was telling her I loved her.”</p><p>Catra blinked.</p><p>“I’ve been wanting to tell you.” Scorpia looked down at her claws. “We’ve been keeping it kind of under the radar so far, but I’ve been looking for a chance to tell you about it.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“There’s so much craziness and paperwork and things going on right now, we figured we’d wait until it calmed down to make the big announcement.”</p><p>Catra suppressed an urge to drag her hand down her face. “No, I mean, why tell <em>me?</em>”</p><p>Scorpia gave her a blank look as if it was a trick question. “Because you’re my friend?”</p><p>The words felt like a punch in the stomach. “Oh.” Catra turned and kept walking. She did not dare to look at Scorpia for the rest of the way in fear of her eyes betraying her. She had hardly spoken to Scorpia for the past few weeks even though everyone had been temporarily living in the same castle. <em>How could she still call me her friend?</em></p><p>“Here it is.” Scorpia gestured to the bedroom door. “Your home sweet home.”</p><p>Catra tensed. Her hand pressed against the door on its own accord. The rest of her body was still. “Do… do you want to come inside?” she asked, then added, “For a little while.”</p><p>Scorpia’s eyes widened and her face lit up. “Yeah! Sure, I mean, that’d be fine.” She cleared her throat in an attempt to subdue her enthusiasm.</p><p>Once inside, she looked around in awe as if they had landed on another planet, even though Catra assumed each guest room had the same basic setup and decorative style. Catra sat on the bed and felt herself sink in at least an inch. She could understand why Adora had spent her first few weeks in the castle sleeping on the floor. She scratched her arm and wished she had been given time to plan out this interaction. <em>What do I say now?</em></p><p>Scorpia sat down beside her friend.“You know, I never thought I would like it here as much as I do. Everyone is so warm, it feels like a dream. And the food?” She chuckled and gazed up at the ceiling. “It beats the gray and brown bars anytime.”</p><p>Catra scratched her arm with a little more vigor. “That’s easy for you to say.”</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“Maybe we both started out as their enemies, but you’re a princess. You have a connection.”</p><p>Scorpia frowned. “Catra… I’ve always been a princess. That wasn’t what made the others like me. Do you remember princess prom? People barely wanted to make eye contact with me. They like me because-”</p><p>“Because you have something to offer! You have a kingdom and powers and- and- you’re useful to the rebellion.” Catra felt exasperated.</p><p>Scorpia shifted her body away from Catra minutely. “Are you trying to say they’re only using me?” Her voice was colder than she had ever heard before. The words held a double meaning, an implication of the irony of Catra being the one to dare to make that accusation.</p><p>Catra raised her hands, palms out. “No! No, what I mean is- is- You can help them in ways that matter. They have reasons to ally themselves with you.” She looked away. “But with me, I have nothing. I can’t prove that I’m worth forgiving or trusting. I know what everyone thinks, how they’re only nice to me because of Adora. I don’t blame them, but it’s frustrating.”</p><p>Scorpia’s demeanor changed instantly. She wrapped an arm around Catra and pulled her closer. “That’s not true at all.”</p><p>Catra turned her face away.</p><p>“The princesses welcomed me before I had any connection to the black garnet. No kingdom, no powers, nothing, but they still made me feel like one of them. Not because I was still technically a princess, but because I chose to be open with my past and problems and I reached out for their help. You can’t hide from people and expect them to see the good inside of you.” Scorpia leaned forward so Catra saw her in her peripheral vision. “No one talks badly about you behind your back. Adora knows you best, and everyone trusts her. We’re all just waiting for you to trust us back.”</p><p>Catra’s entire body was tense to the point of aching. Finally, she let go and sniffled. “It’s so hard.”</p><p>“Aw, come here.” Scorpia pulled her close. Catra remembered all the times she pulled away from these types of embraces when they were back in the Horde. This time she leaned into it. “I know,” Scorpia continued, “You might not think I do, but I do. Trust comes with time, all you can do is try and believe that you will not be hurt.”</p><p>Catra hid her face against Scorpia’s shoulder. “Everyone keeps telling me not to apologize. What else can I do?”</p><p>“Apologizing is a good start. In the end, though, the only way to make up for the bad you’ve put into the world is to put a whole lot more good into it, and into yourself.”</p><p>Catra looked up at her friend with wet eyes. Quietly, she said, “I’m sorry.”</p><p>Scorpia squeezed her again. “Oh, Wildcat, I’m sorry too.”</p><p>Scorpia tensed at using the unwanted nickname, but Catra smiled through her tears and her friend relaxed again. She lost track of how long they stayed like that. Catra focused on regaining control of her breathing. She wiped her tears away with her arm. Scorpia noticed and slowly dropped her arm away.</p><p>Catra swallowed. She realized she had a question that she trusted no one else to answer. “Scorpia, how do you know if love is selfish? Adora said she knows I’m good because I love her, but- but how do I know I’m not just manipulating her?”</p><p>To Catra’s chagrin Scorpia laughed. She ruffled her hair. “That might be the silliest question I’ve ever heard. If what you feel for Adora was anything else, you would have known by now. It’s impossible for true love to be selfish or manipulative or any of those things.” Scorpia gently took Catra’s hands. “True love is what drives people to save the world.”</p><p>Catra pulled away. “But I’ve hurt people with it! I’ve hurt Adora.” She looked away. “I’ve hurt you, too.”</p><p>Scorpia sighed. “Your love for Adora didn’t hurt me. Your anger did, and your selfishness, and your tunnel-vision about getting revenge through power.” She listed these facts with the quiet certainty of someone who has thought long and hard, accepted whatever conclusion they found, and moved on. “But you’ve put those things behind you. I’m happy when I see how good Adora is for you.”</p><p>“That’s funny. Over the past few weeks Adora kept encouraging me to talk to you, because she thinks you’re good for me too,” Catra muttered.</p><p>Scorpia blushed and smiled. “Really? I felt bad when I came between you two earlier.” She looked away. “I know she was in the middle of comforting you. I know we don’t have the same connection-”</p><p>Catra reached out and, uncertain of where to place her hand since she was unaccustomed to being the one doing the comforting, settled for Scorpia’s shoulder. “Scorpia, you-” She sighed. “You are my best friend. At times you were my only friend. I know I haven’t appreciated it nearly enough to deserve it, but you’re still here. And I wouldn’t trade your friendship for all of Etheria.”</p><p>Scorpia pulled her in for another hug. Catra realized Scorpia was sniffling, too. After a few minutes passed, she asked, “Does this mean I can start calling you Wildcat again?”</p><p>Catra sighed and rested her cheek on Scorpia’s shoulder. “I would love that.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Guys, I never expected to get so many lovely comments on the series thus far. When I started writing it I knew it was mostly self-indulgence because I desperately wanted to see Catra get better closure with each princess, and learning that a lot of others share my feelings is an incredible feeling. Your support means so much to me and encourages me to write more. Thank you all for being awesome!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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